Energy and Climate Brian Chase - Fermilab Saturday Morning Physics - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Energy and Climate

Brian Chase - Fermilab Saturday Morning Physics

ENERGY BASICS

• What is energy?
• mass and energy can convert back and forth
• the ability to do work

SI unit is the Joule

ENERGY BASICS

• What is energy?
• Ways to store energy:

ENERGY BASICS

• What is energy?
• Ways to store energy:
• 1) Gravitational potential energy
• 2) Elastic potential energy
• 3) Chemical potential energy
• 4) Nuclear potential energy
• Etc.

ENERGY BASICS

• What is energy?
• Ways to store energy:
• 1) Gravitational potential energy
• 2) Elastic potential energy
• 3) Chemical potential energy
• 4) Nuclear potential energy
• Etc.
• What is the energy content of
• 1) A gram of chocolate?
• 2) A gram of steak?
• 3) A gram of coal?
• 4) A gram of gasoline?
• 5) A gram of uranium?
• 6) A gram of antimatter?

ENERGY BASICS

• What is energy?
• Ways to store energy:
• 1) Gravitational potential energy
• 2) Elastic potential energy
• 3) Chemical potential energy
• 4) Nuclear potential energy
• Etc.
• What is the energy content of
• 1) A gram of chocolate?
• 2) A gram of steak?
• 3) A gram of coal?
• 4) A gram of gasoline? 50 kJ
• 5) A gram of uranium?
• 6) A gram of antimatter?

ENERGY BASICS

• What is energy?
• Ways to store energy:
• 1) Gravitational potential energy
• 2) Elastic potential energy
• 3) Chemical potential energy
• 4) Nuclear potential energy
• Etc.
• What is the energy content of
• 1) A gram of chocolate? 15-20 kJ
• 2) A gram of steak? 15-20 kJ
• 3) A gram of coal? 40 kJ
• 4) A gram of gasoline? 50 kJ
• 5) A gram of uranium? 10^8 kJ
• 6) A gram of antimatter? 10^11 kJ

POWER

• Power is the rate of doing work. It is the amount of energy

consumed per unit time.

• Units
• Watt = J/sec
• Horsepower = 746W

Energy and Society

• Fossil fuel enabled the population growth in the last

two hundred years and may lead to population decline in the next two hundred years

• Our natural energy budget is about 2.4 kWh per day
• r 8,600,000 joules from the food we eat while now

we use 100 to 200 times that from other sources

• Is our increased use of power natural? Is it healthy?
• Could using less make us happier?

The Connection Between Climate and Human Activity

▪ The increase in CO2 and other

greenhouse gases is a recent phenomena, coincident with the explosion fossil fuel use and population growth

There is only one planet in our reach that life, over billions of years, has terraformed into a place where we can live. Our relationship with the earth is not abstract

• it is deeply personal

Sorry, we don’t have warp drives

Seven generation sustainability

"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation... even if it requires having skin as thick as the bark of a pine." This is an often repeated saying, and most who use it claim that it comes from “The Constitution of the Iroquois Nations: The Great Binding Law.”

What social value do we give to energy?

• Hyper efficient vehicles use

0.84 Whr/km-person

• Bicycles are the most efficient

practical transportation

• Transportation only uses as

much energy as we are willing to apply to it.

• We pay more for bottled water

than we do for gas

1 kilocalorie/hour = 1.16222222 watts

Affluent people on average use more energy

• Mercedes-Benz G550
• 13.5 mpg or 1775 Wh / km

What are the reasons?

Energy consumption vs. per-capita GDP

https://blog.opower.com/2013/03/americas-energy-distribution-the-top-1-of-homes- consume-4-times-more-electricity-than-average-and-why-it-matters/

North and South Korea

Political decisions determine energy use

There is no doubt that energy policy has become politicized

1 QUAD= 1.055 EJ (exajoules)

World energy consumption

World Views

How do some other countries with high standards of living use less energy than us?

• A lot has to do with

national psyche

• What they collectively

value

• What is their history with

energy

Denmark

Other countries are going with renewables

• China kills plans for 85 coal plants and commits $361

billion for renewables by 2020

• China’s renewable energy projects are not only an

investment in the future of the Earth, but also in the nation’s

• economy. The NEA estimates the investments will create
• ver 13 million jobs in the energy sector over the

upcoming five-year period, which is likely to far surpass the number of jobs eliminated as the country shifts away from its heavy reliance on coal. While China had previously committed to tripling its solar power capacity by 2020, it now looks as though the country is positioned to boost current production by five times.

What can one person do?

• Educate yourself and them

teach others

• Change your personal lifestyle

and you will affect those around you

• Become politically active

locally and nationally

Nega-watts - the cleanest and cheapest power is the power you don’t use

What is Realtime Pricing?

• It is part of the smart grid/meter technology intended to level

electrical grid loads

• A smart meter replaces the standard meter and records

electrical use with short granularity (30 minutes for ComEd)

• The customer is charged the wholesale rate by the hour

plus delivery charges plus a charge based on use during two peak load periods

• This motivates customers to reduce use during peak

load periods thus reducing peak generation requirements

My Home Energy Use with RTP

Realtime Pricing Aug. 2010 - Oct . 2012

• Average energy used: 0.543 kW
• Peak use: 4.42kW
• Average wholesale rate over study: $0.0337/kWh
• Peak rate:$0.67/kWh, Minimum rate: $-0.185 /kWh
• Average wholesale rate paid over the study period: $0.0365/kWh
• this rate is a little higher than the average because of higher than average energy use during

peak rate times (air conditioning)

• Average retail rate paid over study: $0.0565/kWh - includes 2 cent/kWh delivery

charge(wheeling)

• Average monthly rate : $22.42 + tax, capacity charges, and other small charges.

2+ Years of Home Energy Data

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 x 10

4

1 2 3 4 5 Hours Hourly use in kW ComEd(:,1)

Peak energy use is dominated by air conditioning

0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 x 10

4

−0.2 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 Hours Dollars per kWh electric rate

Peak energy rate driven by air conditioning

The trick is to reduce use during high rates

Use by hour (kWh)

Rate Charge by hour ($/kWh)

Five reasons to question the nuclear power solution

• The nuclear industry claims

that major accidents can

• nly happen on the order of

millions years of operation. Yet we have had:

• Three Mile Island,

Chernobyl and Fukushima Daichi units 1,2,3

Chernobyl Disaster 1986

• 350,000 people resettled
• 1000 sq mi exclusion zone
• Wide estimates on cancer

rates

By Soviet Authorities, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4866476

Small scale nuclear power has intrinsic safety features It is still more expensive than other options but may play a role

Big Wind

Big Solar

Levelized Cost of Energy

Fast track to exponential reduction in CO2 production

• In parallel:
• Set aggressive short term goals
• Tax carbon (Some republicans are now proposing this)
• Raise mileage standards for cars and efficiency standards for other

technology

• Increases funding for research
• Use California approach to energy pricing where the price goes up the more

you use

• Incentives for renewables
• Smart grids and smart metering with real time pricing
• Open up access to the grid for small energy producers

Conclusions

• Our current energy use is unsustainable and is

damaging life on our planet. This is self destructive behavior

• Wind and solar are cost competitive now
• It will take commitment to change our energy

sources and use but the cost will be small compared to doing nothing

• Get involved! You can and MUST change this!